Arsenal have denied making a £55m bid for Torino striker Andrea Belotti, "?according to the Mirror.
On Sunday, Torino director of sport"? Gianluca Petrachi claimed the Gunners had tabled a monstrous offer for the Italian.
Arsenal suffer transfer setback as Torino reject club record offer for Andrea Belotti https://t.co/WZ7iIJbFUt pic.twitter.com/b9E39BCN9w
When asked about the reported bid by Sky Italia Petrachi responded: "Yes, we received that offer but it does not match Belotti's value. And for the time being he's not going anywhere: we want to enjoy having him around, then we'll see."
If the transfer were to be completed, it would smash Arsenal's current transfer record of around £42.5m when Mesut Ozil moved to the Emirates in 2013.
Belotti has been in superb form for Torino this campaign, scoring an impressive 13 goals in 16 Serie A appearances and has been dubbed 'the new Christian Vieri' in Italy.
The 23-year-old signed a contract extension in December, and it is reported that a buy out clause of 100m euros was included for foreign clubs interested in luring Belotti away from Serie A.
On Sunday Torino president claimed: "We put a very high price on that clause to deter other clubs, and I want to keep Belotti close by.
"I've proved throughout my life that I'm more of a buyer than a seller, in fact I've never sold anything."
So it seems that Arsene Wenger may have to fork out a sizeable sum to lure Belotti to north London this transfer window, a very un-Wenger thing to do.
Arsenal will be anticipating tonight's fourth round FA Cup draw after the Gunners prevailed 2-1 against Preston on Saturday evening.
However, it was not plain sailing for Wenger's men, who found themselves trailing at half time. It took second half strikes from Aaron Ramsey and in form striker Oliver Giroud to see the Gunners progress into tonight's draw.
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